Fuck. Ok, here it is. One of the most awesome things I ever saw. Sadly this was in the days before everyone had a mobile cameraphone, before YouTube, etc. Otherwise I could have made my internet millions.

Rhesus macaques, Winnipeg Zoo. Their enclosure consisted of a 2-foot masonry wall (thin stone slabs) with iron bars above it. Some of the masonry was a little loose. Two slabs had come right off and were lying on the ground outside the cage.

The macaques had a "toy" -- a piece of plywood with a large hole in it. Some of them were using it as a lever/pry to remove slabs from their enclosure wall! They'd place it underneath the lip of the top stone, using a brick or something as a fulcrum (probably a lower ledge of the wall on the inside? I don't think they'd have figured out the fulcrum thing on their own. Although, I'd have never believed this story unless I saw it with my own eyes...), and jumping on the board to force the stone up. We watched for about 30 minutes, during which time they pried another two slabs off the wall.

Their biggest obstacle to success was... well, they had the attention span of rhesus monkeys. So every now and then, one of them would stick his head through the hole and run off with it, and they'd all engage in a game of chase, and the board would cease being a tool and become a toy for a while. Eventually, though, one of them would remember the project, take the board back, and start working, and then his friends would join in.

It was CRAZY. These freaking macaques had created a tool that required teamwork to use, and they were successfully using it to break out of their cage. We contemplated reporting this to zoo staff, but we realized we'd feel like rat finks. We decided to let the macaques continue the project until the zookeepers caught them.

Seriously... internet millions. Sigh...

If you want drama to stop following you everywhere, try letting go of the leash.

I don't know how reading novels set in the age of sail is going to help that gorilla. Why not... How to Win Minions and Influence People Against Their Own Best Interest? Or, The Quick and Easy Way to Build Killer Robots?

Oh, wait, that wouldn't work... Not if the forces of monkey and robot are kept separate...

You do know that gorillas aren't monkeys?

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri